Montgomery Place

Richard Montgomery was one of the first heroes of the Revolution, an Irish-born general who marched an army north into Canada in 1775 and died in the snow at the gates of Quebec on the last day of that year. His widow, Janet Livingston Montgomery, never remarried. In 1802 she settled on this land above the Hudson and set about building an estate she first called Chateau de Montgomery, a country home that carried her husband's name into the landscape.

Janet was more than a grieving widow. She ran a serious commercial nursery and orchard business on the property, one of the earliest of its kind in the region, shipping fruit trees and plants up and down the river. When she died in 1828 the estate passed to her brother's line, and the Livingston family would hold and improve it for the rest of the 19th century and well into the 20th.

The original house was a restrained Federal-style block, but in the 1840s the Livingstons brought in Alexander Jackson Davis, the most celebrated country-house architect of his day, to transform it. Davis wrapped the house in columned porches and pavilions and gave it the airy, classical grandeur of the romantic era, turning a plain farmhouse into a mansion designed to converse with its dramatic river setting. It is the only surviving neoclassical country house of its kind by Davis, and the most intact Hudson River estate house of its generation.

The grounds got the same romantic treatment. Drives were laid to open sudden views of the Catskills, a formal garden was planted, trails were cut through the woods along the Saw Kill with its small waterfalls, and the working orchard was kept going. The result is a designed landscape meant to be experienced as a series of pictures, exactly the way estate builders of the picturesque age intended.

The Livingston descendants held Montgomery Place until the 1980s, when they sold it to the preservation group Historic Hudson Valley. It was named a National Historic Landmark in 1992, recognized as a nationally significant survival of an early American country estate, from the mansion down to the gardens, farm buildings, and grounds.

In 2016 the estate came to Bard College, whose campus adjoins it, and Montgomery Place entered a new life as both a living part of the college and a landscape open to the public. Visitors can walk the trails and gardens, look out over the river, and, on scheduled tours and program days, step inside the house that a widow built to remember a fallen general two hundred years ago.

Montgomery Place lies just north of Red Hook, off River Road, a few minutes from the college's main campus in Annandale-on-Hudson. Come for the grounds first: the lawns and columned porch above the river, the formal gardens, the woodland paths to the Saw Kill falls, and the orchard, which is at its best in spring bloom and again in the apple weeks of fall. Because it is part of an active campus, hours and access can shift around the academic calendar and events, so it is worth checking before a long drive.

Give yourself a couple of unhurried hours to walk the property and take in the view that made the Livingstons fall for this bluff in the first place. Pair it with the nearby villages of Red Hook and Rhinebeck for a meal, and you have the makings of a classic slow day in the Hudson Valley, history and river and mountains all within a short drive.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is a place we chose through independent editorial review, never a paid placement.

Montgomery Place is a historic early-nineteenth-century estate on the banks of the Hudson River near Annandale-on-Hudson, now part of Bard College. It features a graceful Federal-style mansion set amid beautifully landscaped grounds, gardens, and woodlands, with trails, waterfalls on the Saw Kill creek, and sweeping views across the Hudson to the Catskills. It is a serene, picturesque example of the grand riverfront estates that line this stretch of the Hudson Valley.

The grounds are the main draw: you can stroll the landscaped lawns and gardens, walk woodland trails, see the falls on the creek, and soak up the classic Hudson River vistas that inspired painters of the Hudson River School. It is a peaceful place for a scenic walk and a bit of history, admiring the mansion's architecture and setting. Checking whether any interior tours or events are offered can add to a visit.

Spring through fall is ideal, when the gardens and grounds are green and blooming and the river views are at their best, and autumn is especially beautiful as the estate and the Catskills across the river turn color. Since it is a college-owned property, it is worth checking current access, hours, and any event schedules before you go, particularly outside the main season.

Come prepared for a walking visit, with comfortable shoes for the lawns, gardens, and woodland trails, and check current visitor access since arrangements can vary as a Bard College site. Bring water and sun protection for the open grounds, and allow time to wander down toward the river and the falls. Respect the historic property and grounds, staying on paths and out of any restricted areas.

It sits among the celebrated Hudson River estates, near Clermont and within easy reach of the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Vanderbilt Mansion historic sites, the charming village of Rhinebeck, and the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. The whole area is rich in history, scenery, and riverfront beauty, so Montgomery Place pairs naturally with a day of touring the grand estates and towns of the mid-Hudson Valley.